Greater Access to Translation Could Save Lives and Protect Human Rights in Africa

New report from Common Sense Advisory and Translators without Borders highlights the growing need for translation in Africa

(BOSTON) – Translation is critical for addressing information inequalities in Africa. But could translation also improve economic development, health, human rights, and safety of the citizens of Africa? Findings from a new study reveal that the answer is “yes.”

A new study conducted by Common Sense Advisory on behalf of Translators without Borders finds that translation is critical for the public health, political stability, and social wellbeing of African nations. The report surveyed 364 translators for African languages in 49 countries representing a total of 269 different language combinations. The results are detailed in a new report, “The Need for Translation in Africa,” which is available as a free download at: http://www.commonsenseadvisory.com/Portals/0/downloads/Africa.pdf.

“We already knew that translation for Africa was severely lacking,” comments Lori Thicke, founder of Translators without Borders. “This report clearly shows that the need for translation is so striking that, for the sake of African citizens, it simply can no longer be ignored.”

* “63.07% of respondents said greater access to translated information could have prevented the death of someone in their family or circle of friends,” explains Tahar Bouhafs, CEO of Common Sense Advisory. “This is clear proof that translation can save lives in Africa, and that the time to address this need is now.”

Africa is home to nearly 1 billion people, or roughly 10% of the world’s population. The African continent also boasts 2,000 languages spread across six major language families. Some of them – such as Amharic, Berber, Hausa, Igbo, Oromo, Swahili, and Yoruba – are used by tens of millions of people. At least 242 African languages are used in the mass media, a minimum of 63 are used in judicial systems and no fewer than 56 are used in public administration.

Key datapoints from “The Need for Translation in Africa” include:

* 97.14% of respondents said greater access to translated information would help individuals in Africa understand their legal rights.

* 95.85% of respondents said greater access to translated information would help protect human rights in Africa.

* 94.92% of respondents said greater access to translated information would have a positive impact on the collective health of people in Africa.

* 94.87% of respondents said greater access to translated information would help Africans in times of emergency or natural disasters.

* 91.96% of respondents said greater access to translated information would help people in Africa contribute to the political process.

* 88.78% of respondents said greater access to translated information would help prevent international, civil, ethnic, or communal conflict in Africa.

* 63.07% of respondents said greater access to translated information could have prevented the loss of life of Africans in their family or circle of friends.

The report is available at: http://www.commonsenseadvisory.com/Portals/0/downloads/Africa.pdf.

An accompanying infographic is available at: http://www.commonsenseadvisory.com/Portals/0/downloads/infographic_translation_africa.jpg.

About Common Sense Advisory
Common Sense Advisory is an independent market research firm helping companies profitably grow their international businesses and gain access to new markets and new customers. Its focus is on assisting its clients to operationalize, benchmark, optimize, and innovate industry best practices in translation, localization, interpreting, globalization, and internationalization. For more information, visit http://www.commonsenseadvisory.com or follow on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/CSA_Research.

About Translators without Borders
The mission of Translators without Borders (and its sister organization in France, Traducteurs sans Frontières) is to translate knowledge for humanity. Translators without Borders has met that mission through quality humanitarian translations provided by a community of trained translators to vetted NGOs who focus on health, nutrition and education. Translators without Borders volunteers translate millions of words per year, focusing on three types of humanitarian translations: crisis translations needed urgently to inform people in crisis, translations that support an NGO’s operations, and educational translations that directly support people in need. In 2012, Translators without Borders established a Healthcare Translators Training Center in Nairobi, Kenya. For more information, visit: http://www.translatorswithoutborders.org or follow on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/TranslatorsWB.

About Common Sense Advisory

Translation and Localization Industry Pricing Survey Reveals While Demand is Up, Prices are Down

Industry pricing report, based on Common Sense Advisory’s survey of 651 language service providers, details cost of services across 156 language pairs.

Boston, MA – August 13, 2010 -- Translation underpins successful business globalization. While technology, business practices, regulatory compliance, and marketing issues support the international or domestic multicultural outreach of any organization, words always convey information about what an organization does, sells, or offers. And, according to new research by Common Sense Advisory, these words are getting cheaper. The net result of global supply, advances in technology, economic troubles, and more aggressive buyers has conspired to drive down the prices of most major and up-and-coming language pairs since the firm last collected data on pricing in late 2007.

Common Sense Advisory based these findings on a detailed global survey of 651 language service providers (translation firms) and freelancers in 75 countries about their pricing structures, processes, and customer bases. The firm’s report, entitled, “Translation and Localization Pricing,” includes pricing data in average prices for 156 language pairs. Further, it includes the major 10 languages with the greatest global economic impact (French, Spanish, Chinese, et. al), as well as 23 “next-wave languages” used in rapidly developing markets or in countries that are important to the global supply chain (for example, Arabic and languages of India).

How services are priced:
Most respondents (72.5%) base their pricing on the source content that they receive versus just 13% who charge by the words that they generate. The balance of respondents said other factors contributed to the structure including the client and complexity of the job. Invoices may include extra-cost fees including: terminology research, project management, testing, quality control checks, preparation of final materials, and more.

Adds report lead analyst and Chief Research Officer Don DePalma, “Whether you’re buying translation or comparing your prices with those of a competitor, you should ask for the fully loaded cost. This will vary by geography. For example, European LSPs and smaller firms elsewhere tend to bundle services in their pricing, while larger American companies are more likely to break them out in their proposals.”

Key survey findings include:
Demand is up, but price is down. While demand for language services has continued to grow (at a rate of over 13% per year), for the most part the price of translation and localization services has dropped. Few language pairs were spared substantial price decreases since 2007 – only French and German emerged as relatively safe havens for pricing stability. Among the world’s top 10 languages, English into Russian showed the most price compression over that period.

Automation benefits buyers. Businesses can obtain substantial cost savings by working with translation providers that partially automate the translation process. The research found that most providers discount the per word price by as much as 48% when using translation memory to process previously translated text. Machine translation with human post-editing generates even larger savings.

Less than half give discounts. Price anxiety remains a big concern among suppliers. Forty-two percent of the respondents give some type of discount, based on customer loyalty, frequency, or volume. Respondents overwhelmingly stated that they face price pressure and client sensitivity driven by competition from large LSPs and low-cost (and sometimes unqualified) translators both in their home markets and abroad.

Common Sense Advisory regularly helps companies with revenue growth and cost reduction in a global business environment; advising them on local best practices, including translation and localization services.

“With some 23,000 vendors across the globe offering translation services, buyers of language services want to know how and where to get the best value and what charges should be included,” said Tahar Bouhafs, the company’s Chief Executive Officer. “Suppliers want to find out whether their prices are competitive against a nearly unlimited number of mostly unknown rivals. That’s what this industry research report explains.”

For more on the firm’s research, visit www.commonsenseadvisory.com.

About Common Sense Advisory
Common Sense Advisory, Inc. is an independent research and analysis firm specializing in the on- and offline operations driving business globalization, internationalization, localization, translation, and interpretation. Its research, consulting, and training help organizations improve the quality of their global business operations. For more information, visit: www.commonsenseadvisory.com or www.twitter.com/CSA_Research.